The first episode of CCS is one of my favorites in the sly, economical way in which it introduces the principal characters and the main conflict of the series. Many of these cels are small but they all illustrate significant moments from this classic premiere.

What a line-up: Ohkawa-sama, of course, was the overall scenario artist for the CCS manga (and for many of their other classics), while Asaka and Takahashi were series director and character designer/senior animation director. Clearly this is an episode that the top artists on this studio team wanted to be not just good enough but monumentally great -- and they succeeded.